Donald Trump on Wednesday described a deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville as a “peanut” compared with the current wave of pro-Palestine demonstrations unfolding on college campuses across America.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the Republican noted that his successor, Joe Biden, had cited the Unite the Right rally in Virginia as among his motives for running for president. One woman was killed and almost 40 other people were hurt when a neo-Nazi rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters at the rally—an event that Trump claimed at the time had been attended by “very fine people on both sides.”
“Crooked Joe Biden would say, constantly, that he ran because of Charlottesville,” Trump wrote in his post Wednesday. “Well, if that’s the case, he’s done a really terrible job because Charlottesville is like a ‘peanut’ compared to the riots and anti-Israel protests that are happening all over our Country, RIGHT NOW.”
He went on to claim that that Biden “HATES Israel and Hates the Jewish people” and “HATES the Palestinians even more.”
Trump’s comments came after protests related to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza grew more heated and widespread Wednesday. Almost 100 people were arrested on trespassing charges at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles as police in riot gear broke up an encampment of demonstrators. Dozens more were detained at the University of Texas at Austin—including a member of the media—as state troopers clashed with protesters.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also threatened to call in the National Guard during a visit to Columbia University’s campus in New York City, denouncing the school for having allowed “lawless agitators and radicals to take over.” Johnson was angrily booed and jeered as he spoke about the need to “bring order” to the situation.
Earlier this week, Biden said he condemned “the antisemitic protests,” adding that he also condemned “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.” Andrew Bates, the White House deputy press secretary, also said in a statement that while Americans have the right to peaceful protest, they do not have the right to call for “violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students.” Such calls, he added, have “absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States of America.”
Israel launched its widespread offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in which around 1,200 people were killed and a further 250 were kidnapped as hostages, according to Israeli figures. The Gaza health ministry says that more than 34,000 people have been killed in the enclave over the course of the ensuing conflict, which is now its seventh month.